You should not “judge a book by its cover”, but we all do it all the time. Whether we like it or not, external variables are powerful in the perceptions we have of others. Unfortunately, you really only have one shot at making a positive first impression, and our external appearance is the first thing seen and it is often how we are judged.

Those who are old enough would remember the disco band from the 70 s called “Faith Hope and Charity” . Their only hit that I can remember was entitled “To Each His Own” which described how we should not try to interfere in other peoples business.

Perhaps it’s strange that I start with reference to this disco band but it was the irony of the name of the band that…..

The phrase “stop drop and roll” refers to a procedure taught by the fire department to individuals so that they can survive a fire and avoid burns. It is a protective maneuver which has saved lives. Perhaps an extreme parallel but I think of this phrase as I think of an approach to provide a protective psychological maneuver to help cope with life’s challenges.

Everyone has stress in their day to day lives. How we deal with this varies…..

The word friendship is used liberally to describe many of our relationships with those we have encountered and interacted with from our early days in elementary school to high school, through college, into adulthood. We all typically have friends at various points in our lives, some we continue to engage with for a lifetime, whereas others are only there for a few seasons.

I find great joy in my interactions with a wide variety of friends and associates, especially when…..

Regardless of years of effort to make a difference, the gender gap in the sciences remains wide. The many efforts from public school systems, colleges and universities, various non-profits, and even the Girls Scouts, are having an impact but we must continue to do more. We are all working to create job shadowing programs and other experiences for young girls to get them more involved in STEM programs, i.e., Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, to continue to have this impact.

It is not uncommon for a college/university president to have a cabinet. Typically, it is made up of all direct reports to the president and represents the senior leadership of the organization. Upon arrival at Des Moines University (DMU) I soon realized that the cabinet did not fully represent the full scope of the administrative structure and frankly I much preferred the concept of Team effort. I changed the structure and formed the Executive Leadership Team (ELT), adding other units…..

The On September 1, 2013, an interview was published by the Magazine, Diverse Issues in Higher Education in which I was asked about the challenges of being the first woman and first person of color to serve as President/CEO of Des Moines University, a 117 year old health sciences university. The first questions was, What are some of the challenges…..